Chapter 110: Words I’d Never Heard (9)

[110] 16. Words I’d Never Heard (9)

Rem recalled a rather boring story.

A long time ago, there lived an idiot.

A dimwit who could barely take care of himself, yet had the widest nose for other people’s business. He was also utterly lacking in self-awareness, constantly getting involved in things he shouldn’t have.

Perhaps because of that, the idiot was abandoned by God early on.

No matter what the idiot did, who he met, or where he went.

Everything ended in a terrible disaster.

Like a chunk of ice left out in the sun, the fool melted and crumbled away. Literally.

But the advantage of being a fool is optimism.

Even when God himself sent him countless suicide offers, the idiot did not stop living. He did not hang himself, even after half his body had been replaced with metal.

He even started having grand delusions.

‘My life is such a mess, so I’ll never die!’

‘I’ll survive, no matter what!’

Just how stupid do you have to be to have such delusions.

Any person with normal intelligence would never even dream of thinking such a thing.

Anyway, the imbecile lived, lost in his delusions. And therefore, he acted even more recklessly.

And then, finally, the idiot met his end.

And it was the most idiotic and terrible of ends.

The end.

Rem let out a faint chuckle despite the pain. If he could, he would have laughed even louder.

His prosthetics removed, he was nothing more than a cripple without limb and couldn’t even speak properly.

Rem laughed again in that raspy voice.

He found everything about this situation so absurdly funny. And why wouldn’t he?

After struggling so desperately, after clinging to life so tenaciously, he was destined to die from being tortured by some crazy bastard.

It was a cruel joke.

So cruel that he almost regretted it ending so soon.

“…What’s wrong with that guy?”

“I don’t know, he must have lost his mind or something.”

“Well, in that state, I would too…”

But it seemed like some lives were much more tenacious than he thought.

*Scrape-*

The sound of a silenced scream, followed by a dull thud as something hit the ground.

Rem instinctively cowered and heightened his senses. Then, he heard the sound of quiet footsteps slowly approaching him.

Strangely, Rem felt a sense of calmness wash over him. No, his heart ached as if it were filled with ice.

Because he felt like he knew who was coming.

“…Rem.”

Feya.

Rem bit his lower lip firmly.

“I… free you… Just… wait a moment…”

A delicate hand grasped the nails that had been driven into Rem’s body.

“Ugh…!”

With a short cry, Rem’s body fell from the cross. Feya carefully cradled Rem and then lifted him up.

“Let’s go… I’ll get you out of… here…”

And at that moment, Rem felt something on Feya’s body.

A warm, sticky liquid covering her entire body, which couldn’t possibly be water.

*SMACK-*

Rem’s arm strikes Feya away.

The result was disastrous.

Rem fell to the ground, and Feya stumbled backward, collapsed.

“Ah… No… I came to… rescue…”

Feya swayed as she approached Rem.

But the outcome was the same.

*WHAM-*

This time, Rem’s wrist slaps Feya’s cheek.

But how painful could a slap from the feeble arm of a dying man be.

Feya simply staggered for a moment before approaching Rem again. She grabbed Rem’s arm, which was desperately trying to push her away.

“Just… stay still… I’ll… send you back…”

Feya’s words stop.

Suddenly, the moonlight illuminated Rem’s face.

Rem, whose tear ducts had been damaged, couldn’t cry. But a person’s face can speak volumes.

Rem’s face was twisted in fury.

*Thwack-*

Rem breaks free from Feya’s grasp again. Feya simply stared blankly as he curled up into a ball.

Her weak voice came after a brief silence.

“Please… live…”

Her voice was as fragile as thin ice. It seemed it would shatter at any moment.

“I-I know… you hate… me… I-I know… I’m doing what you told me not to… right now…”

Feya’s figure slowly crumbled to the ground.

“But… please… just… please live…”

Rem curled up even tighter. His shoulders shook with the emotions he tried to swallow.

“When… this is over… I’ll… I’ll even cut off my throat for you… So… please…”

“Turn on the lights.”

*Flash-*

A blue light, like a spotlight, shone down on them.

Rem and Feya’s forms, previously hidden in the darkness, were now revealed.

“Disgusting.”

Just as he said, it was a gruesome sight.

There was no need to mention Rem, who had been tortured for hours.

But if they were to compare, Feya was in a much more pathetic state.

She looked as if she hadn’t eaten or slept properly for days.

Her cheeks were sunken, her cheekbones protruding, and her bony fingers trembled slightly. The bandages that covered her entire body were stained with a yellowish pus.

Adolf, walking towards them under the magical lamplight, wore a look of disdain.

“That walking corpse of a body… Utterly repulsive.”

“No…!”

Feya struggled to get up. She grabbed her axe with trembling hands and stood in front of Rem.

“If you take… a step closer…”

“Shut up.”

Adolf touched his earring and then reached out a hand toward Feya.

“…!!”

And then, Feya fell into hell once more.

Adolf’s illusion, where death and resurrection repeated endlessly.

Her eyes rolled back into her head, and white foam oozed from her mouth. In an instant, Feya was rolling on the ground like a dying insect.

“After killing so many of my knights, did you really think I wouldn’t have any countermeasures?”

Contempt filled Adolf’s eyes. He continued in a voice that crackled like sparks.

“Did you think I was that much of a fool? That I was that laughable?”

As the intensity of the pain increased, Feya’s convulsions worsened. She looked like a moth burning to death.

But her convulsions did not last long.

*Thud.*

Adolf looked down at the small stone that had hit his chest and then fallen to the ground. Then, he looked in the direction from where it had come from and let out a hollow laugh.

“Ha…!”

Rem put another stone in his mouth and spat it at Adolf.

But this time, the stone didn’t even reach Adolf. It simply fell to the ground.

Adolf’s face twisted horribly at that moment.

“Such touching love. It seems you haven’t learned your lesson.”

At those words, Rem’s eyes darkened.

“Then I’ll have to teach you again.”

He reached out his hand toward Feya once more.

Adolf’s harsh threat fell upon Feya’s pale face.

“Barbarian, cut off that bastard’s head.”

A single tear rolled down Feya’s cheek.

“…No…”

“Very well.”

Adolf clenched his fist.

“____________!!”

A sound closer to a beast’s roar than a scream. Feya curled up and started scratching her own body.

Blood oozed from beneath the torn bandages.

Rem screeched and tried to approach Feya, but his body was already being held down by the knights.

Feya’s scream echoed faintly through Rem’s ears.

“Haah…! Haah…!”

The screaming only stopped when all of Feya’s bandages were removed.

The festering and infected wounds that covered her body were revealed under the moonlight.

At the disgusting sight, the knights involuntarily averted their gaze.

But Adolf just sneered.

“Cut off his head. Then I’ll let that disgusting body of yours rest.”

But his sneer didn’t last long.

“…No…!”

A voice, dripping with tears, but its intensity was absolute.

Adolf’s face hardened.

“You foolish woman.”

“____________!!”

Her scream met the starlight.

.

.

.

And the same thing was repeated, again and again.

Before long, Feya was covered in blood, and instead of screams, she made a strange, metallic sound. She lay curled up on the floor, as if she didn’t have the strength to even sit.

But Feya wasn’t the only one who was exhausted.

“Haah…! Haah…!”

Adolf panted heavily, glaring fiercely at the crumpled Feya and shouting.

“Cut it off!! Cut off his head!!”

“____”

“You’ve already followed my order once!! Aren’t you the same as me!!”

“______”

“Just cut it off!!”

“_________”

Feya hugged herself tightly, as if wanting to crush her own body. She let out a weak moan as soon as the illusion subsided, her body limp.

But still, Feya gave no answer.

Adolf grabbed his head and staggered.

“Your Highness…?”

“Why… After you’ve done it once already… Why now…”

That’s when it happened.

Feya, who had been curled up on the floor, slowly started to get up. Then, crawling on all fours, she began to approach Rem.

“Yes! That’s it!”

Delight spread across Adolf’s face.

“Cut off that bastard’s head with your own hands! Move!! Get out of the way, you idiots!! Don’t stop that woman! Get out of the way!”

At Adolf’s shout, the knights who had been trying to stop Feya stepped aside. Then, even the knights who had been restraining Rem let him go.

Rem had long since lost consciousness. His body slumped to the floor.

Adolf shouted desperately.

“Yes! Kill him! If you kill him, I’ll let you live! No! I’ll give you anything you want!!”

It was a scene ripped straight out of a nightmare.

The prince, screaming desperately with bloodshot eyes.

Feya, drooling and crawling towards Rem despite being covered in blood and repeatedly dropping to the ground.

And Rem, who was on the verge of death, without hands, legs, or eyes.

It was grotesque, repulsive, cruel, and sickening.

Everyone present felt that way.

But even so, the moonlight tenderly embraced them all.

Feya’s hand reached Rem’s.

“Yes! Kill him! Prove that I had no choice…!”

Adolf’s shout trailed off.

The knights’ low murmurs also subsided.

The crackling of the torches, the chirping of insects, even the sound of the wind disappeared.

In the silence, only the moonlight remained.

The moonlight illuminating Feya embracing Rem.

“…Hand over the sword.”

“What?”

Adolf glared at his knight as if he would kill him.

“The sword. Hand it over.”

The knight hastily handed his sword to Adolf. Adolf snatched it roughly and approached the two.

His bloodshot eyes twisted, and he raised the sword high.

And…

“Your Highness!!”

Just as the sword was about to fall on Feya’s neck, it stopped.

All eyes turned to the knight who had burst out from the bushes.

The pale-faced knight shouted.

“Fr-From the direction of the capital, large number of cavalry are approaching…!!”

***

“Let go! Brother-in-law! Let go of me!!”

Rosalia struggled desperately to break free from Dorn’s grasp. But Dorn’s arms, holding her tightly, were firm.

“Sister-in-law! Calm down! Stop it!”

“Rem!! Rem!!”

Rosalia’s cries were closer to screams. And the louder her screams became, the more violently she struggled.

It seemed as if she might hurt herself if this continued. Dorn had no choice but to take drastic measures.

*Thud-*

Rosalia’s shocked eyes turned to her thigh. A familiar dagger was embedded in it, as if it were a branch.

“This is…”

“It’s coated with a paralytic poison, sister-in-law. Just cool your head for a bit”

As Dorn released Rosalia, she stumbled and collapsed to the ground like a rag doll. She managed to sit up, leaning against a tree trunk, and glared at Dorn.

“No…! I have to go save Rem…!”

“And die together at the prince’s hands?”

Rosalia’s face turned pale.

Dorn sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Sister-in-law, we lost.”

He approached Rosalia with bandages and a potion. He carefully pulled out the dagger as he continued.

“And Rem is probably already dead.”

He poured the potion on the wound and wrapped it with bandages. He spoke in a gentle voice, trying to soothe her.

“So…”

“Brother-in-law.”

The sound of tears falling on grass was unlike any other sound.

Dorn stared blankly at the weeping Rosalia.

“H-He can’t… he can’t die…”

“I, I can’t live without him anymore…”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“He…he really can’t die…!”

“If he’s gone, then I…I!!”

In reality, Dorn and Rosalia weren’t close.

No, to be more precise, Rosalia wasn’t close to anyone.

A girl who always seemed to have a part of her heart broken, her face always emotionless. A girl who kept her distance from others, deliberately using an archaic way of speaking.

That was Dorn’s impression of Rosalia.

But when did she start making this kind of expression?

Dorn couldn’t bear to watch Rosalia cry and lowered his head. With a somber voice, he barely managed to speak.

“I’m sorry.”

“Bro…Brother-in-law… D-Don’t say that! There has to be a way somewhere…!!”

“My, my, it seems I’ve come at a bad time.”

Rosalia and Dorn’s gazes simultaneously turned to a single spot.

A strange woman was standing there.

Her demeanor was frivolous, her arms covered with strange tattoos, and above all, she was wearing a man’s butler uniform despite being a woman.

“Uh, well… Should I just leave you two alone for a bit? So you can… gather yourselves…”

“Who are you?”

“Ah, me? I am…”

Despite Dorn’s sharp tone, the woman’s smile never left her face. Instead, she brightly smiled and spoke.

“Betty Ailleyde. I’m a messenger from the Central Knights’ 3rd Division. And…”

Betty pulled out a letter from within her clothes.

“This is a letter sent by the one and only Imperial Crown Prince, Louis Andrique von Titanisch.”